Poll: Californians’ support for stricter gun laws soars

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Residents of the Redwoods senior-living community in Mill Valley, Calif., protest gun violence and stand in unity with Tamalpais High School students participating in a walkout on Wednesday, March 14, 2018. (Mark Prado – Marin Independent Journal)

Since last month’s deadly Parkland, Florida high school shooting, support for stricter gun laws among likely California voters has soared to about 70 percent, a new poll shows.

The Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday found that likely voters favoring stricter gun laws climbed 15 percentage points — the most since the research organization began asking the question in 2015.

“In the wake of recent mass shootings, Californians have responded with record-high support for stricter gun limits as many Republicans now join Democrats in calls for action,” PPIC president and CEO Mark Baldassare said.

By contrast, just 24 percent of likely voters think gun laws should stay the same, the poll said, and only 6 percent think they should be become less strict. The poll asked respondents if they think laws covering the sale of guns should be more or less strict or kept as they are but did not ask about specific proposals.

According to the poll, an overwhelming majority of registered Democrats (87 percent) and a strong majority of independents (68 percent) say gun laws should be stricter. But almost half of Republicans (48 percent) now say the laws covering gun sales should be stricter, up from 28 percent in 2017.

Strong majorities of adults across all regions and across all age, education, income, racial and ethnic groups favored stricter laws covering gun sales. But the poll found women (80 percent) are much more likely than men (65 percent) to support stricter laws.

Strong majorities of Californians both in congressional districts held by Democrats (77 percent) and districts held by Republicans (63 percent) support stricter laws.

California already has some of the nation’s strictest gun controls, including a ban on so-called assault weapons — military-style semiautomatic rifles often called modern sporting rifles in the trade — and high-capacity ammunition magazines or clips.

The Golden State also imposes a 10-day waiting period on buyers taking possession of a purchased gun, requires all firearm sales to go through federally licensed dealers, and allows for a court order to temporarily confiscate guns from those deemed a violent threat. Ammunition now must be purchased through a licensed seller. A new state bill would raise the age for buying a rifle or shotgun in California to 21, the same as for handguns.

But a daily drumbeat of gun threats still has many on edge. On Wednesday, a student was arrested after bringing a loaded gun to Fremont High School in Oakland, prompting a lockdown. Students nationwide, spurred by the fatal shooting of 17 students and educators in Florida allegedly by a 19-year-old expelled student with a legally-purchased assault rifle, are planning to march on Saturday in support of stricter gun controls.

Matt O’Grady, 62, registered Democrat from San Francisco who participated in the poll, said that while he supports private gun ownership “for hunting and private recreational purposes,” he favors more restrictions.

“I’m a firm believer in gun control,” O’Grady said in an interview. “I don’t think they need to be banned, but we need an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and much tighter restrictions on types of guns.”

Dorothy Johnson, 79, a registered Democrat from San Francisco who participated in the poll and who doesn’t own any firearms, said she’d like more background checking on gun buyers.

“We do need to get on the gun control,” Johnson said. “They’re out of control — kids going to school with guns, people shooting on the freeways and all of that.”

But Bill Spikes, 68, a registered Republican from San Jose who owns a gun for hunting and also participated in the poll, said the state already has too many gun restrictions.

“I think they should be less strict,” Spikes said. “They’ve passed laws that don’t work. Let’s back up. Remove the old gun laws that nobody seems to think worked and if they want to put in new ones, fine. However, if you raise the buying age to 21, they also ought to raise the voting age to 21. One’s the same as the other, taking responsibility for something bigger than you. If you’re in the service you can vote whenever you go in.”

Baldassare noted that a February CBS News poll found similar results nationally, with 65 percent of adults nationwide saying gun laws should be more strict, 26 percent saying they should be kept as they are and 6 percent saying they should be less strict.

The PPIC poll was based on a telephone survey of 1,706 California adult residents on both cell phones and landlines from March 4 to 13. The margin for error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points for all adults surveyed, 3.7 percentage points for the 1,404 registered voters and 4.5 percentage points for the 931 likely voters. The PPIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California.

John Woolfolk is a reporter for the Bay Area News Group, based at The Mercury News. A native of New Orleans, he grew up near San Jose. He is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism and has been a journalist since 1990, covering cities, counties, law enforcement, courts and other general news. He also has worked as an editor since 2013.